Hey friends,

Today some of my author friends and I are sharing our favorite "mug shots". Believe it or not, I'm not a coffee drinker. I love the smell of freshly ground beans, of delicious blends like Hazelnut and French Vanilla, but the taste...blech! I'm a green tea or hot chocolate drinker. Preferably tea in the morning and during the day, and hot chocolate (mounded with whipped cream and maybe a shot of armareto) at night. 

​Today I'm writing and drinking my Yogi Blueberry Slim Life tea out of my favorite mug. I love it because of it's size. Yeah, you know, size does matter. :-) And it's festive, too.

I'd love to see a picture of you and your favorite mug! Tell us what hot beverage you like to sip on during these cold winter nights. Oh, and don't forget to check out the author's links as well. I promise there are amazing books on their websites!  

Natalina Reis believes there's nothing like strong (but not bitter) coffee as in espresso and flat whites. She doesn't need the caffeine, just the flavor. Ahhhhh...
https://www.facebook.com/authornatalinareis/
**In the picture she's actually drinking lavender/chamomile tea (another favorite)***

Christa Maurice's favorite beverage is Aldi's Double Mocha. It was out of stock for a while last spring when they changed distributors and she thought the world was ending.

https://christamaurice.com/

​Nina Pierce starts the morning with home-brewed Dunkin’ hazelnut coffee with a dollop of half n half (she’s too sweet to need sugar) enjoyed in a mug from her bestie!
http://www.ninapierce.com

Wanda Thomas's favorite mugs come from a cross-country road trip, where she collected a new coffee cup as she stopped at Cracker Barrel Restaurants from Maine to Arkansas to rent audiobooks. Her love of travel also finds its reflection in her love of reading and writing historical romance.
http://dld.bz/Mail-OrderBride

Every morning, to jumpstart her muse, Delsora Lowe sits down with her writing partners (Murphy and Dolly) to her story in progress with a cup of Prince of Wales tea with honey. She won this mug at her very first writers retreat about twelve years ago, so the mug filled with hot tea is an integral part of her writing ritual.

http://www.delsoralowe.com/

Even though this mug almost aways has coffee in it, Tami Lund's true, true fave hot beverage is fresh apple cider with a hefty dose of dark rum. Yum!
 https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTamiLund/

Blueberry "merlot" herbal tea with honey keeps Kristi Hancock writing at night.

www.KristiHancock.com

Don't forget to share your favorite mug and beverage!

Today I'm handing over the reigns to Barbara White Daille who has many delicious recipes, and a wonderful holiday romance to share. Welcome, Barbara!

A Time for Thanks and Traditions

This is one of my favorite times of the year, when the weather cools off and the holidays get closer. I love Thanksgiving for many reasons. If you don’t include Halloween—which is in a class by itself—Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holiday season. 

A chance for family and friends to get together. 

An opportunity to look back over the year to see just how much we have to feel thankful for in our lives.

And of course, Thanksgiving’s also a time to eat many of the foods we get to see only at this time of year. The turkey…the cranberry sauce…the candied yams…the recipes for dishes and desserts passed down from generation to generation. I would imagine you have a long list of your family’s favorites, too.

One of our food traditions is the famous Green Bean Casserole. Even if you don’t serve it for your holidays, you’ve probably heard of it. The recipe is easy-peasy. Then why don’t we have it at our house any time we’d like?  Because saving the dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas makes it extra-special.

When it comes to holiday foods I’m a bit of a traditionalist because…well…holiday meals represent tradition! The first time I saw the Green Bean Casserole recipe with soy sauce as an ingredient, I almost fell out of my chair. But to each her own, I guess. 

Here’s a link to the version we use: http://www.frenchs.com/recipe/frenchs-green-bean-casserole-RE1511-1. (Recipe and photo from www.frenchs.com.)

As much as I love my turkey and sweet potatoes, I’ll admit that, for me, many of the holidays are also all about the desserts.

One of my favorite cookies, Peanut Blossoms, has been around forever. There are many ways to make them, but—no surprise—I tend to like the tried-and-true recipes. Here’s one:  
https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/peanut-blossoms/b5de97ec-9e31-4303-8cb7-9484b5e4e86b 
(Recipe and photo from www.pillsbury.com.)  

And I’ll let you in on a little secret. When you’re ready for some of those cookies, pop them into the microwave or toaster oven just until the chocolate begins to melt. OMGosh!! If you’re a chocoholic (like me), you’ll be writing to thank me! lol 

Last year, my husband and I decided we’d get even more of a head start on the holidays. We took our collection of Christmas mugs out of storage to begin using them the day after Thanksgiving. We were just a tiny bit worried we’d be bored with the mugs by December 25th. Instead, exactly the opposite happened. We loved being able to extend our holiday season!

The picture shows just a small part of our collection. For hot chocolate, our favorite mugs are the tall ones, because they hold more whipped cream.

Speaking of Christmas and mugs and chocolate, here’s a quick peek from my brand-new release, Snowbound with Mr. Wrong, involving all of the above:

To Lyssa’s relief, Nick had changed out of his wet jeans and into the fresh pair she had given him. He sat a few feet away in his former “Santa Claus” chair, now stripped of its velvet cover, his bad ankle propped up on a footstool. She wondered what Tommy and Mollie would say if they were to find out he had played Santa.
She poured a mug of chocolate and handed it to Tommy.
Before she would accept her own mug, Mollie insisted on carrying Nick’s across the room to him. Relieved at not having to go near him again, Lyssa gratefully handed his mug over.
“Mmm…this is good.” Tommy licked his lips and grinned. “I like hot chocolate.”
“Me, too,” Lyssa said, smiling back at him. She liked anything chocolate. Her thoughts drifting to the too-tight elf costume, she swallowed a sigh.
As she took a sip of her chocolate, Tommy pushed away the afghan he’d had covering him. With a thud, he set his mug on the wooden floor. “I’m done,” he announced loudly. “We can go home now.”
She couldn’t help herself. She shot Nick a glance. Why, she didn’t know. It wasn’t as if she needed an answer from the man. She already knew what she would have to tell Tommy. There would be no going home tonight.
Nick knew that, despite his false hope that Amber had sent out a rescue party. Judging by the brooding look on Brent’s face, he understood they were stuck here, too. She suspected Mollie also realized the snow would keep them stranded.
The little girl proved it by saying to Tommy, “We can’t go home now.”
“Why not?” he demanded.
“It’s snowing!” Her voice climbed in exasperation.
Already, they were beginning to get on each others’ nerves. How were they going to make it through the night—and, worse, maybe through all of tomorrow, if it came down to that?

Hope you enjoyed the excerpt! You can find the complete Chapter One and links to more info about Snowbound with Mr. Wrong here:  http://bit.ly/swmw-pg  

And now…

I’m happy to chat!  Anyone have a tradition or recipe—old or new—or a holiday story to share?

From the cover of Snowbound with Mr. Wrong:

Worst. Day. Ever. After Lyssa Barnett’s sister tricks her into reprising her role at Snowflake Valley's annual children's party, she doesn’t think anything can be worse than squeezing into her too-small elf costume. Then tall, dark, and way too handsome Nick Tavlock shows up to play Santa…and an unexpected storm leaves them snowbound in the isolated lodge.

The last thing Nick wants is to spend a cozy Christmas Eve with a trio of kids and the woman who dumped him. But as much as Lyssa frustrates him, he can't stop thinking about her. And soon, he's fighting very un-Santa-like thoughts of kissing a certain sexy Miss Elf under the mistletoe. As Nick starts to fall for Lyssa all over again, he knows it will take nothing short of a miracle to have Lyssa in his arms on Christmas Day.

About Barbara:
Barbara White Daille lives with her husband in the sunny Southwest. Though they love the warm winters and the lizards in their front yard, they haven’t gotten used to the scorpions in the bathroom. Barbara also loves writing, reading, and chocolate. Come to think of it, she enjoys writing about those subjects, too!

Barbara wrote her first short story at the age of nine, then typed "The End" to her first novel many years later...in the eighth grade. Now she's writing contemporary romance on a daily basis, with a brand-new series from Entangled Bliss (Snowflake Valley), an ongoing series from Harlequin Western Romance (The Hitching Post Hotel), and many more books on the schedule. 

Find Barbara online:
Website  http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com
Blog  http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com/blog 
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Barbara-White-Daille/e/B002J6B0QQ
Entangled  http://entangledpublishing.com/category/barbara-white-daille 
Harlequin  http://www.harlequin.com/author.html?authorid=1244   
Goodreads  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/529361.Barbara_White_Daille 
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/barbarawhitedaille
Twitter https://twitter.com/BarbaraWDaille. 
And for insider news and info, sign up for her newsletter! http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com/newsletter 

A few years ago I thought NaNo was stupid. (For those of you who don't know, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. You spit out a 50K novel--rough draft--by the end of the month.) I mean, why November? There's Thanksgiving to plan for, and parent-teacher conferences, and basketball and the holidays. Why not pick January or March when there are a few open days in my schedule?

In 2014 I bit the bullet and made a NaNo account, but I didn't commit to it. I'm the type of person that makes realistic goals, and meets them, come hell or high water. I work full time and have three children actively involved in sports. How the heck can I write 50,000 words in a month as well? I lived off the inspiration, the momentum, the rush of everyone else posting about their goals and managed to write 20,000 words in a month, while keeping up with the daily grind. I felt so accomplished!

​
I signed up for NaNo again this year but am nervous about meeting the 50K goal. 2016 brought a multitude of sad news and medical issues to our family, which has been another time suck. However, I want to make a commitment, make goals, push myself. 

​Here's my challenge for you. Make a goal. Start small if you have to. It could be 100 words a day. Or 500 words a week. It doesn't have to be the 50K NaNo challenge. Maybe you have a WIP that needs to be finished. Not a writer? Make a reading goal. How many books are you going to read this month? Are you an editor? How many manuscripts will you read and edit this month?  
​Work for it. Achieve it. And be proud of it. 

YOU can do anything you set your mind to. Are you up for the challenge? If so, put it in writing. Make it public. Hold yourself accountable. 
Inspire us. 

~Feeling motivated,
​Marianne